Abu l-Salah's jurisprudential viewpoints are to a great extent close to those of the scholars of the School of Baghdad and influenced by al-Sharif al-Murtada. According to Abu l-Salah, judgeship is a prerogative of the infallible Imams (a) and their deputies, and those who assume the position on behalf of the Imams are to have such characteristics as wisdom, insight, righteousness, patience, and a firm determination for fulfilling the laws.

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Early Life

Abu l-Salah al-Halabi was born in 374/984-985 in Halab. Some sources have mentioned the year 347/958-959 as his birth year, which seems to be a mistake. Abu l-Salah most likely started his education in his hometown.

Teachers

Al-Halabi moved from Halab to Baghdad and studied there under al-Sharif al-Murtada and became one of his most prominent students, such that al-Murtada would refer the fiqhi questions of the people of Halab to him and Abu l-Salah was regarded as al-Murtada's representative in Halab.
Al-Shaykh al-Tusi was another teacher of al-Halabi. Some have also mentioned Hamza b. 'Abd al-'Aziz Sallar al-Daylami among his teachers.

Students

After his graduation, al-Halabi returned to Halab and started teaching. Many students studied under him. Some of his most prominent students and those who narrated hadith from him include the following:

Thabit b. Aslam al-Halabi who took the position of Abu l-Salah after his death

Jurisprudential Viewpoints

The jurisprudential viewpoints of al-Halabi are to a great extent close to those of the school of Baghdad and influenced by his teacher al-Murtada, including the unreliability of khabar al-wahid. However, Abu l-Salah and al-Murtada have certain differences of opinion, which is recorded by al-Karajaki in Ghayat al-insaf fi masa'il al-khilaf.

Abu l-Salah also holds, in some cases, an opinion which is different from the opinion of the majority of jurists.

According to al-Halabi, judgeship is a prerogative of the infallibleImams (a) and their deputies, and those who assume the position on behalf of the Imams are to have such characteristics as wisdom, insight, righteousness, patience, and a firm determination for fulfilling the laws. Accordingly, assuming judgeship permissible, or rather obligatory, for those who have the qualifications—even if it is offered to them by an illegitimate ruler, in which case, the judge would be the deputy of the Imam, not the ruler.

Works

A number of the most important jurisprudential and theological works of al-Halabi are extant and some of which are as follows:

Al-Kafi fi l-fiqh is his most important and most famous work which is a comprehensive book of jurisprudence and includes some theological issues as well. Shiite jurists have referred to and admired this book a lot including Ibn Idris al-Hilli who has considered it as a nice scholarly work.

Taqrib al-ma'aref which includes theological discussions especially tawhid, prophecy, Imamate and Divine Justice. One of the characteristics of this book is that it has benefited from such sources as Tarikh al-Thaqafi and Tarikh al-Waqidi which are no longer available today.

Cemetery of Jabal al-Jawshan in Halab, Syria where Abu l-Salah al-Halabi was buried.

Demise

Abu l-Salah passed away in 447/1055-1056 on his return from Hajj in Zamla, Palestine.

References

The material for this article is mainly taken from ابوالصلاح حلبی in Farsi Wikishia.